Aaaaaaaaaand.... Yanked Back from the dead.
I decided to return the Squier. It just didn't feel right. Especially after I got it to begin to behave and get it setup. The neck pocket was cut really deep and getting the action to a medium level was as low as it was gonna go. The set screws on the height adjusters for the E and G string were bottomed out. They were close to perfect at that level but not quite low enough. Add in a scratchy tone and volume pot and the paint defects and that was it.
I returned it at a bad time. Just before Thanksgiving so it took quite a while to get there and back because of the holiday but the process was easy and free. Music123 stood by thier guarantee.
The odd part is that it wasn't returned by them. The replacement shipped from
musicians friend. A call to both CS depts. led me to find they are the same warehouse. I knew they are owned by the same corporation but I didn't expect one to use the customer system of the other. All the email generated by the return to music123 was generated by Musiciansfriend.
The new one arrived a couple of hours ago. The first thing I noticed was that it was packaged entirely differently than the original. This time rather than being shipped in the box it sits on the shelf waiting to be sold in, it was in a very sturdy cardboard box held closed by those plastic straps and heavy tape. The outer box looked in much better shape than the first one. (The UPS guys must be tired from all the holiday shipping and just not able to beat stuff up properly)
After opening the outer box, I saw the fender factory box inside surrounded by heavy brown paper. It was held in place fairly firmly.
The factory Fender box and packing method of it were different than the first one too. This time the part of the box that holds the bass slid out rather than just opening. The body of the bass was cradled in a cardboard U to keep it from shifting around. The cardboard that held the headstock was the same as the first as was the plastic/foam bag around the Bass.
This time, no dirt or marks on the body, and no blems in the paint. Also very different than the first one, this ones neck is pretty flat. Good action right out of the box too.
Plugging it in and playing it revealed great tone like the first one, but no scratchy pots.
The truss rod adjuster has immediate effect on the neck, totally unlike the first one.
I'm happy now. Very happy. I sorta felt I was being picky on the first one. I mean it's a $250 bass, and I got it for $200 on sale. Had I not read such glowing comments about them here, I probably wouldn't have cared about the defects on the first one. Well I would have cared, but I'd have thought they were all like it.
My final take is that it's a good bass. I'm sure I'll get a lot of enjoyment out of it.
I also ordered 2 SX's this past friday and they're supposed to arrive in the 15th. A P/J and a Jazz, I'm very curious to see how they measure up the to the Squire VM P. Both in tone/playability and in value for money.
